


A Moment of Companionship

by Doranwen



Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Gen, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 03:17:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17378570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doranwen/pseuds/Doranwen
Summary: Audiva deepens her friendship with Menolly.





	A Moment of Companionship

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Morbane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morbane/gifts).



Audiva waited outside Menolly's door, hoping the other girl would be along soon. Menolly hadn't said she couldn't come every day to practice—and really, she could not take another minute of Briala's sneering or Amania's not-so-subtle jibes. Menolly's new status as journeywoman didn't help at all.

"Audiva?"

Audiva glanced the opposite way to find Menolly walking towards her. "Hey," she greeted, smiling. "I hoped we could practice some more. And I never got to tell you what Silvina said the other day."

Menolly's face lit up. "I'd love that! And I thought maybe we could go over some of your basic gitar chording so you can switch between them more easily."

A while later, Audiva decided that her chording needed a _lot_ of practice; she suspected Menolly thought the same but was too kind to say so. She mentally breathed a sigh of relief when Menolly said, "That's enough for now. You can't master it all in one day, and anyway, the next performance is a ways off."

"How much do you practice every day?" Audiva asked.

"I don't practice a _lot_ in general, now (at least not with the gitar), but I'm always _playing_ here and there—usually songs I'm composing. I did a lot more practicing back when I was studying at my family's hold. Before—" Her voice trailed off as she held her left hand out.

Audiva had seen the scar, but it hadn't factored into the rumors floating around about Menolly. "How did that happen?" she ventured, a little hesitantly.

"Knife slipped, gutting packtail. My mother…" Menolly's sentence ceased suddenly, and she blinked, drawing the hand back to herself. Her next sentence was spoken in a whisper. "It didn't heal right." She blinked again, lifting her eyes to study Audiva. "How did you end up here? Did your parents send you or did you ask to come?"

Audiva tucked the former topic away in her mind for later. "They heard about the opportunity and asked me. I was so excited—I liked learning the Teaching Ballads, and when they said I'd get to learn more music…" She smiled at Menolly. "I don't love music as much as you do, but it was something to _do_ that I liked. I could have learned weaving from my father, but I think I'd go crazy having to do that all day. My mother is assistant to the healer at Telgar Hold, but…" She shuddered. "I don't know how they stand it, all the blood and things like that. They thought of fostering me, but they were fostering a girl from the Woodcrafthall at Lemos, and I was her companion until she was accepted as an apprentice weaver. And I would like a husband someday, but not yet. I'd like to actually improve at something—at this." She lifted the gitar in her lap slightly. "But I feel like a dim glow sometimes." She suddenly realized she was giving a speech, and snapped her mouth shut.

Menolly twisted her mouth a little. "You aren't, you know. Don't—don't compare yourself to me, all right? Like I said the other day, you _can_ play—you just need to practice every day. And I like teaching you."

Audiva wasn't sure the last line was _completely_ true, but Menolly wasn't one to lie, so there had to be some truth in it. "All right," she said, smiling a little. "Besides, someone needs to show you what it's like having a girl friend, since you missed out on the experience."

At that moment, Beauty began to creel. "Time for supper. You want to help feed them?" Menolly asked.

"Can I?"

"Long as you don't mind sharing the privilege with Camo and Piemur—they're always there."

Audiva grinned. "I think I can handle it." She left the gitar in Menolly's room and followed her friend to the kitchens. Briala's jealousy would probably flare up worse, but somehow that didn't matter so much now. Fire lizards, music, a good friend… The future suddenly seemed bright with possibility.


End file.
